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Mother, daughter sentenced to 48 hours in jail, community service in animal neglect case

A former Savannah resident and her mother today were sentenced to 48 hours in jail and 100 hours of community service for neglecting four pets they left unattended in a storage shed where the animals died.

Stephanie Smith, 27, and Mary Stalvey, 51, must do their community service with the Liberty County animal control after their release from the Chatham County jail, Chatham County Recorder’s Court Chief Judge Tammy Stokes ruled.

They were immediately sent to jail.

Savannah-Chatham Animal Control officer Larry Roundtree told Stokes the women left three cats and a dog in a crate at Stars and Stripes Self Storage, 5503 Montgomery St., on Jan. 18 and did not return. The animals decomposed bodies where found May 17 where they had died of starvation, dehydration and heat, testimony showed.

The women, both of whom wept in court, told officers they could not stand the thought of euthanizing the animals at the Human Society and left it to a “mutual friend” to take care of the animals. He did not do so.

“They never made any attempt to do back,” Star Cpl. George Smith testified. “There was no proof the friend ever existed.”

Stokes told the women “that was a really bad decision.

“These are living creatures. They trust us to take care of them because they’re helpless.”

Testimony showed Smith was being evicted from her apartment on White Bluff Road and moved her things to the storage shed, including the animals.

Smith’s husband has been deployed with the Army and she and her mother now live on base housing on Fort Stewart, evidence showed.